Round 18: Tossup 11

A section of this poem set during the harsh month of Lenaion makes reference to “Mr. Boneless,” a kenning for an octopus who “chews his foot in the gloomy haunts.” This poem lays out a time that “could have been” when “you could have hung up your steering oar” and the activity “the oxen and patient mules do (10[1])would be abolished.” A section of this poem on seafaring recalls its speaker winning a song contest and carrying away a tripod after sailing from Aulis to Euboia (-5[1])(“yoo-BEE-uh”). This hexameter poem (10[1])defends the absolute power of the strong over the weak with a fable of a hawk carrying off a nightingale, and lists many calendar-based superstitions, such as to begin plowing (-5[1])when (10[1])you hear cranes (10[1])overhead. (10[1]-5[1])This poem (10[1])recounts the myth of Pandora (10[1])and repeatedly (-5[1])chides (10[1])its author’s lazy brother (10[2])Perses. (10[3])For (10[1])10 points, (-5[1])name this didactic (-5[1])poem by Hesiod. ■END■ (10[8]0[2])

ANSWER: Works and Days [or Érga kaì Hēmérai; accept Opera et Dies]
<Editors, European Literature> | R. Playoffs 9 (Editors 9)
= Average correct buzzpoint

Back to tossups